Eviction filings have been rising across the First Coast over the past five years — with St. Johns County seeing a 30 percent increase since 2019.
But amid this surge, Putnam County stands out as an unexpected outlier, with eviction filings actually declining during the same period.
According to data from the Florida Housing Data Clearinghouse, St. Johns County had 499 eviction filings in 2019.
That number climbed to 657 in 2024, representing a 32 percent increase. When adjusted for renter households, the eviction rate rose from 27.73 filings per 1,000 renters in 2019 to 36.31 in 2024 — a jump that signals mounting housing pressures in the county.
The trend shows no signs of slowing. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, St. Johns County recorded 182 eviction filings — up 49 percent from 123 filings during the same period in 2019.
January 2025 saw 76 filings, marking the highest single-month total in five years. This early spike suggests the year could end with another marked rise in evictions beyond last year’s already elevated numbers.
The county’s average rent as measured by the Zillow’s Observed Rent Index has gone from $1,282 in 2015 to $2,298 in May of this year.
Despite these increases, St. Johns still maintains a lower eviction rate compared to some neighboring counties, most notably Clay County, where the rise in filings has been even more dramatic.
Clay County’s eviction numbers have intensified significantly. The county saw 1,010 eviction filings in 2019, but that number jumped to 1,484 in 2024 — a 49 percent increase. The eviction rate per 1,000 renter households climbed from 54 in 2019 to 79 in 2024, a 46 percent rise that points to swelling rental instability.
The upward trend continued into 2025, with the first quarter logging 404 eviction filings — a 68 percent surge compared to 240 filings during the same months in 2019.
January 2025 alone saw 172 filings, the highest monthly total Clay County has seen in five years.
Meanwhile, other First Coast counties have experienced varied eviction trends. Duval County, much larger than St. Johns or Clay, has remained relatively flat. Filings rose only slightly from 13,174 in 2019 to 13,744 in 2024, and the eviction rate per 1,000 renter households nudged up from 78 to 81.
Flagler County’s eviction activity has also been largely steady, with 275 filings in 2019 and 285 last year. Its eviction rate per 1,000 renters increased marginally from 27 to 28 during the same period.
However, the most notable exception in this region is Putnam County. Unlike its neighbors, Putnam’s eviction filings declined over the past five years, dropping from 448 in 2019 to 391 in 2024. This represents a reduction of about 13 percent. The eviction rate per 1,000 renter households also fell from 55 to 48.
